The combining or forming of a plurality of articles into a group of articles and from the groups of articles to produce firm and/or transportable storage and transport units or bundles using shrink films, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,726,464 is known. One of the disadvantages of this is that the films used, and in particular the shrinking-on of the films by the application of heat or energy, is expensive.
It has also already been proposed to produce transportable bundles by strapping containers together, as described in DE 102009025824, DE 102009044271, and DE 4126212. This is a particularly inexpensive and simple way of producing bundles or transport and storage units. The strapping can also be bonded with the containers.
One disadvantage of strapping, however is that when one container is first removed from such a bundle, the containers remaining in the bundle are no longer held together by the strapping. This is the case not only when the strapping is removed or cut, but also when one takes a container from the bundle without severing the strapping.
Moreover transporting such bundles on a belt conveyor presents the danger that cylindrical or chiefly cylindrical articles, such as cans, bottles or containers, assume a nesting position, i.e. slip into a gap in the adjacent row, due to vibration, impacts etc. With known bundles, a very high tension must be applied to the strapping in order to avoid this.
DE 102006037105 discloses to a method for combining bottle packets in which a rotary star wheel that presses bottle necks into clips on flat carriers is provided on both sides of a track. The bottle packet is also wrapped with a tape or an envelope, or film).
According to DE 2331193, an adhesive is applied to containers in narrow surfaces or rows, with contiguous surfaces that are not provided with adhesive being intended to facilitate a gripping of the packing for carrying purposes. The containers stick to one another at the adhesive points.
EP 2096039 also relates to containers being provided with an adhesive, with a shrink film also being disposed around the bottle packet however. DE 102008038146 discloses a shaft drive system that has a coaxial direct drive containing the motor and in which the motor's rotor is mounted directly on the shaft and the stator, the shaft and the rotor are externally fixed and enveloped. EP 1647518 discloses a sealing machine that has a fixed-position central pillar that is free from elements for mechanical force transmission and so only contains lines.